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CS 2010 "Challenges and opportunities in the energy sector: the case of the Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden"

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

After the big success of the Transdisciplinary Case Study (TdCS) within the CCES project ClimPol (Climate Policy Design for Enhanced Technological Innovation) in Spring 2009 a next case study was organised in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. We had again three groups, with 5 to 7 students each working on a specific issue.

Three professorships from three different departments participated in 2010:
- Natural and Social Science Interface-NSSI, D-UWIS (Prof. Scholz), PhD student Yann Blumer
- Ecological Systems Design, D-BAUG (Prof. Hellweg), PhD student Dominik Saner
- Group for Sustainability and Technology, D-MTEC (Prof. Hoffmann), PhD student Jörn Hoppmann

The transdisciplinary case study (td CS) is a compulsory part of the MSc in Environmental Sciences - Major in Human-Environment Systems (10 CP) but offered for other Masters, too. We are recruiting students from different Master programs (Environmental Sciences, Human-Environment Systems; Management, Technology, and Economics; Energy, Science & Technology; Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems) interested in joining this unique course.

Guiding question

  • What are the energy-relevant framework condition the canton AR is exposed to in the next 5-10 years?
  • How do they affect households, industry and utilities in AR?
  • How robust are different strategies of these sectors with respect to those conditions?

People

  • Headship
    Prof. Dr Roland W. Scholz (overall responsibility)
    Dr Michael Stauffacher & Catharina Bening (overall management, coordination, responsibility for teaching)
  • Supervision
    Prof. Dr S. Hellweg, Prof. V. Hoffmann
  • PhD students
    Yann Blumer, Dominik Saner, Jörn Hoppmann, Elmar Friedrich (Tutors for each group)
  • In collaboration with
    Prof. Dr Rolf Wüstenhagen, Good Energies Professor for Management of Renewable Energies, University of St. Gallen
  • Main partners from practice (Td Board, Projektsteuerung)
    Hans Bruderer, Ralph Boltshauser, Olivier Brenner (Amt für Umwelt und Energie AR)
    Karin Jung (Amt für Wirtschaft AR)
    Thomas Klingele (Elektro Speicher-Trogen AG)
    Peter Langenauer (Gemeindepräsident Speicher)
    Ingeborg Schmid-Huser (Gemeindepräsidentin Bühler)
    Bruno Eigenmann (Verein Energie AR)
    Jens Weber (Gemeinderat Trogen)
  • Further partners from practice (Begleitgruppen - reference groups): Mario David, St.Gallisch-Appenzellischen Kraftwerke AG (SAK); Georges Schär, schär energie; Fredi Stricker, Kantonsrat und Vorstandsmitglied kant. Landw. Verein, Stein; Roman Schläpfer, Gewerbeverein Trogen; Heinz Nigg, Oberförster Departement Volks- und Landwirtschaft, Oberforstamt
  • Students: Francisco Barajas Solano, Human-Environment Systems (HES); Majka Baur, HES; Nils Epprecht, HES; Fabienne Habermacher, HES; Severin Hegelbach, HES; Ilona Imoberdorf, Geography (University of Zurich); Elias Kost, HES; Jacob Narciso Mandel, Energy science and technology (EST); Gregor Martius, EST; Martin Meyer, EST; Tomas Micek, Mobility student EST; Matthias Probst, HES; Michael Rudolf, HES; Nicole Steiger, HES; Ueli Studhalter, HES; Christian Stünzi, HES; Devon Wemyss, HES; Christopher Bisang, University of St. Gallen

Products

Brochure (in German)

  • Probst M, Bening C, Blumer Y, Friedrich E, Hoppmann J, Saner D, Stauffacher M & Scholz RW (2011): Herausforderungen und Chancen im Energiebereich für den Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden. ETH-UNS Fallstudie 2010. Zürich: TdLab.external page 10.3929/ethz-b-000628971

Media reports (in German)

Further articles

  • Blumer, Y., Martius, G. & Stauffacher, M. (2011). Kleine EVUs unter Hochspannung. Eine Fallstudie der ETH Zürich zur Situation in den Kantonen St. Gallen und beide Appenzell. Bulletin VSE/electrosuisse. 4(2011): 8-11
  • Stauffacher, M. (2012). Climpol: Final public event of two transdisciplinary case studies. external page ProClim-Flash, 53, p. 16

Scientific articles

  • Stauffacher, M., Krütli, P., Flüeler, T., & Scholz, R. W. (2012) Learning from the transdisciplinary case study approach: A functional-dynamic approach to collaboration among diverse actors in applied energy settings. In Spreng, D.T.; Flüeler, Th.; Goldblatt, D.L.; Minsch, J. (Eds.) Tackling long-term global energy problems: The contribution of social sciences. Springer (pp 227-245) DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-2333-7
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